"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

I have issues with this story: so, someone can come along and dig up my relatives and, even though everyone knows who his descendents are, it isn't automatically up to us to decide where he gets reburied?

This story is just tremendously sad. Yes, the people should have gotten planning permission, but the house was built on private land. "Harmful to the rural character of the locality"? Horsecrap.

I'm not sorry to see the end to an agency that I have come to loathe, but, really, the minister responsible of its policies is still right where she's always been, and it doesn't sound as if what follows will be any better. So I have to call that a "no good news" story.

I have mixed feelings about this one: other than the Chamber of Commerece chap, it doesn't indicate any local sentiment pro or con. But I'm a fan of wind energy, and I'm a big fan of people telling Donald Trump to shut his big effing piehole, so I'm going to count it in the "good news" column.

I have mixed feelings about this one too. Better equipment and longer range sounds good, but putting out public safety services to private contract doesn't seem like a good step to me. It seems like a step down the road to the place where I get a radio message, as my ship is sinking, saying "We have detected your distress call; for a quick, one-time charge of $2,000, we will undertake all reasonable steps to rescue you. If you prefer the "heroic measures" rescue package, that is available for $10,000. If you would like us to recover your vessel also, that service is available for a surchage equal to 40% of the insured value of your vessel. Please press 0 for more options."

This story comes closest to being good news. Nothing about Syria right now can really be good, but it's encouraging to see the opposition being recognised and given a role to represent Syria to the world.

Jon Stewart puts Sens. McCain and Graham's attacks on Amb. Rice in the appropriate context.

Nice work, Mr Stewart! :-)

An interesting concept I had not encountered before (as least labelled as such): Newsgames. Games that are "an application of journalism in videogame form", games that "simulate how things work by constructing interactive models. Newsgames can persuade, inform, and titillate; make information interactive; recreate a historical event; put news content into a puzzle; teach journalism; and build a community."

I was about to post this as a comment in FB, but then at the last minute I noticed that what FB had shown me was a friend (schizokitty) commenting in the FB of someone she knows, but whom I do not. Rather than going ranty on some stranger's page, I figured it would be more polite for me to post here. ( rantiness follows, click here )

OK, this is friggin' hilarious.

For those not from DC, that is our local ABC TV affiliate's sports program from a few nights ago. They are previewing the (then) upcoming National Basketball Association game between the Washington Wizards* and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Only some bright spark pulled the graphic for the KANSAS CITY Wizards.

Who play in Major League SOCCER.

(Oh, and to add insult to injury, Washington lost the match. Maybe the KC Wizards showed up to play instead...)

Priceless.





* Who used to be the Washington Bullets, but when the murder rate got sky-high, the owner changed the name.